Tabulating machine



Dec. 1943- J. c. MAYORGA ET AL 2,335,111

TABULATING MACHINE Filed Dec. 4, 1940 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 f jf 4% 68 M? w o r o j a f w 1 vuc wTO-M/ JOSEPH G [VAYOR GA ALEERT A. L [NTE Patented Dec. 7, 1943 TABULATING MACHINE Joseph C. Mayorga and Albert A. La Polnte, Hartford, Conn.

Application December 4, 1940, Serial No. 368,488

Claims.

The present invention relates to tabulating machines and more particularly to tabulating machines of the type which are used to record information denoted by the perforations formed in a perforated indicia bearing card.

The object of the present invention is to provide a tabulating machine of the above-indicated type of such a simplified nature that it will place such machines within the reach of small business enterprises. Heretofore, so far as applicant is aware, the tabulating machines for recording the information denoted by perforated cards have all been extremely complicated structures which were costly to manufacture and could generally be used profitably by enterprises having a tremendous amount of tabulating to be done. The machine incorporating the present invention is relatively small, and the entire operations thereof are accomplished through mechanical movements performed upon the operation of a single operating member, which member may either be operated manually or by a small power motor.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tabulating machine of the above-indicated type which is extremely flexible in that the information recorded by the perforations in any column on the card may be transferred to any column on the sheet upon which the information is to be recorded. Not only can the above be accomplished, but the adjustment whereby it can be accomplished can be carried out by the user of the machine, and thus the machine can be quickly and readily interchanged to obtain a desired recording.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a front view of a tabulating machine incorporating the invention herein;

Fig. 2 is a side view as seen from the right of Fig.

Fig. 3 is a side view of the machine with the side plate of the casing removed;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 from the opposite side of the machine;

Fig. 5 is a view with the front plate of the machine removed;

Fig. 6 is an exploded perspective view of details of construction showing means for interchanging the operation of the machine;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. l, but showing a power operated machine; and

Fig. 8 is a view of a tabulating card of the type used in such tabulating machines.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown in Fig. 8 a perforated card ill of the type which is used in conjunction with the tabulating machine incorporating the invention herein. As indicated, the card is subdivided into six columns indicated by the letters A to F, inclusive, and each oclumn further carries a vertically arranged numerical indicia from zero to nine. The cards l0 are originally fed through a punching machine, which machine provides a perforation I2 in each column from which information is to be transferred by the tabulating machine to a master sheet G on the machine. The master sheet G is provided with a plurality of columns corresponding in number to those on the card, whereby the information on a plurality of cards may be tabulated on a single sheet to make a single record thereof.

In order to efiect this transfer, the tabulating machine shown herein comprises a rectangular casing H having front and rear walls It and I8 and side walls 20 and 22. The casing may be supported on a suitable base 24 and secured thereon by angle plates 26 and the top of the casing closed by any suitable cover 28. The front and rear walls 5 and I8 are provided on their inner surfaces with opposed vertically extending guideways 30 in which there is slidably mounted a card carrier 32. The card carrier comprises a relatively thin rectangular plate provided with six columns of perforations 34, each column having ten perforations corresponding to the numerical indicia on the perforated card I0, whereby when a card is positioned on the card carrier a perforation punched in any column will align with the corresponding perforation on the card carrier.

In the machine illustrated, the cards I 0 are automatically fed into the machine to position same onto a card carrier 32. To accomplish this, there is mounted on the exterior of the front plate It a card support 35 (see Figs. 1 and 2) comprising a side plate 36 and a bottom plate 38. Extending vertically from the bottom plate 38 is a stop member 40, and intermediate of the member 40 and plate 36 there is a plunger 42 which is normally urged by a spring 44 towards the front plate 36 to always maintain one of the cards Ill against the plate.

As best seen in Fig. 1, the plate 88 has a channel 48 cut therein for receiving a feed bar 48 which extends transversely through the machine and lies in a plane rearwardly of carrier 82. The outer end of the feed bar is provided with a small projecting finger 68 adapted to engage the outer edge of one of the cards and, upon transverse movement of the feed bar, to carry the card inwardly and position it on the carrier. To allow the card to be fed inwardly, the carrier (see Fig. 4) has cut therein a transversely extending slot 82 which, when the carrier is in its lowermost position, is in alignment with the feed bar finger i8, and thus upon transverse movement the feed bar will move until the finger engages the end wall of slot 62, at which point the card will be so aligned that the perforations therein align with the perforations in the carrier 82. To guide and maintain the card in this position, the carrier further carries top and bottom, transversely extending, L-shaped guide members 64 spaced the depth of the card and adapted to hold the card in position on the carrier after the latter is fed into the guides 54.

To obtain this card feeding, the feed bar 48 is provided with a pair of spaced stops 56 (see Fig. 4) having positioned therebetween the lower end of a lever 58, which lever is pivoted adjacent its upper end on a pivot 68 mounted on a cross bar 62 supported between the side plates I6 and I8. Intermediate of the pivot 68 and its lower end the lever 58 has pivotally connected thereto the inner end of a second lever 64, the outer end of which is pivotally connected to a vertically extending lever 66. The upper end of the lever-66 engages a cam 68 mounted on an operating shaft I8, and intermediate of its ends the lever 66 is pivoted on a bracket I2 carried by the side plates I8. The cam 68 is formed with a flat 14, and when the upper end of the lever 66 engages the flat I4, the feed bar operating means will be in the position indicated by the broken lines in Fig. 4, in which position the feed finger 68 is located to feed a card into the machine. Upon rotation of the shaft 18 and cam 68 (clockwise in Fig. 4), the upper end of lever 66 will be pivoted in a coun-' terclockwise direction and, through the interconnecting linkage, will carry the feed bar inwardLv to the position indicated in Fig. 4 and feed a card onto the carrier 82. I

To assure proper cooperation of the interconnecting linkage between the cam 68 and the return of the feed bar 48, there is further provided a spring 16 interconnecting the lever 66 intermediate of bracket I2 and its lower end and the upper end of the lever 68. The spring I6 will, upon operation of the feed bar 48, be expanded and tend to pivot lever 66jc1ockwise (see Fig. 4) and lever 68 counterclockwise, returning the parts to feeding position upon the upper end of lever 66 aligning with cam flat 14. To eject a card, a slot 16 is cut in the side wall I8 in alignment with the carrier guides, whereby the feeding of any successive card will eject a preceding card.

Following the feeding of a card onto the carrier, the carrier is ,raised vertically to align the perforations therein with the lower ends of a plurality of sensing-devices 88. Referring initially to the means forraising thecarrier, there is pivotally mounted centrally of and lust below the upper edge of the carrier the lower end of a lever 84, the upper end of which is connected to one arm of a bell crank lever 86 which is also pivotally mounted on the cross bar 62. The other arm of the lever 68 engages the lower end of a lever 88 which is pivoted intermediate of its ends on a bracket 88 and has its upper end in engagement with a cam 82 also mounted on the operating shaft I8. The cam 82 is also provided with a flat 84 against which the upper end ofthe lever 88 rests when the carrier is in its lowermost position, whereas upon rotation of the cam 82, the upper end of lever 88 (see Fig. 3) is pivoted in a clockwise direction to actuate bell crank 86 and move the carrier 82 vertically.

To have a proper sequence of operation, the flat 84 on the cam 82 is offset angularly with reference to the flat" on the cam 68 so that the raising movement of the carrier does not start until the feed bar 48 has been moved inwardly through the extent of the carrier slot 52, whereupon the perforated card will be properly positioned on the carrier. Upon raising the carrier, the feed finger 68 enters a carrier slot 86 extending vertically downwardly from the horizontal slot 52, and the feed bar 48 is held inwardly thereby until the carrier is again in lowermost or feed position.

As previously indicated, upon the raising of the carrier 82 the uncovered perforations therein will come into alignment with the lower ends of the sensing devices 88; there being provided a number of sensing devices corresponding to the number of columns on the perforated card l8. Herein, for purposes of simplicity, only six devices have been shown; it being apparent that this number may be expanded to perform the operations for any particular set of conditions.

More particularly, each sensing device 88 is carried by and depends from a transversely arranged operator slide 88 provided on its opposite ends with rollers I88 which guide the slide in suitable vertical grooves I82 provided 'in guide members I84 secured to the side walls 28 and- 22 of the casing. As best seen in Fig. 5, each sensing device lies in a plane forwardly of the carrier 82 and includes a connector rod depending from the slide 88 and extending through a suitable guide opening in a bracket I86 for properly guiding the rod and also forming a limit stop for engaging a pin I88 carried by the rod above the bracket. Pivotally mounted on the lower end of each connector rod I88 is a sensing finger II8, the lower end of which has a projection III turned inwardly towards the carrier 82 and normally spring pressed into engagement with the carrier by a leaf spring 2 secured to the face of the rod I88 and engaging the finger 8 below the pivot thereof. Whenthe parts are in inoperative position, the fingers 8 will normally engage the face of the carrier above the perforations 84. However, upon the raising of the carrier the lower ends III of the fingers will become aligned with one of the perforations, whereupon the spring II2 will force it into same, and, upon further raising of the carrier, the slide will be raised simultaneously therewith. As best seen in Fig. 5, upon the lowering of the carrier, when the stop pin I88 engages the bracket I86, the carrier will engage the cam surface II4 of the finger projection III and cam it out of the perforation.

Each operating slide 88 in turn operates a second operating slide 6, and to each of the slides II6 there is connected 9. tabulating device comprising a vertically extending bar 82. In the embodiment disclosed, each of these bars may be provided adjacent their upper ends with type indicia from zero to nine corresponding, to the indicia on the perforated card. The slides 8 correspond in structure to the slides 88 and are mounted in like manner in guide plates II8 supported in the front and rear walls I3 and I8. It will be noted, however, that although the slides H8 are arranged in a plane parallel to the slides 88, they are also arranged at right angles to the slides 88. Likewise, each slide is of such length that it underlies or overlies all of the other slides.

In order to operate the bars 82 upon the actuation of the remote sensing devices 80, the slides H6 and slides 98 are interconnected by any suitable readily removable interconnecting means I20. In the embodiment illustrated, the interconnecting means I20 comprises a rigid rod having its lower end receivable within a recess I22 provided in the slide 98 and its upper end in a recess I24 provided in the slide II6; the weight of the parts be ng suflicient to keep same in interlocking position.

As best seen in Fig. 6, each slide has a number of recesses I24 corresponding to the number of sensing devices 80 and bars 82, and as the slides are arranged at right angles to one another, it is possible to shift the rod I20 whereby any sensing device 80 may be connected to any selected bar 82. For example, the rod I20, which connects the slides designated as a and b, could be shifted to connect the slide a with the type bar carrier designated as-c. In like manner, the interconnecting rod, I20a could be shifted to connect the slide (1 with the slide b. With this arrangement, it is possible to connect any sensing device with any type bar, and thus if the columns on the master sheet G upon which the information is to be printed are not in the same sequence as the columns on the perforated card, the connections between the slides may be interchanged so that the information from the proper column on the perforated card will be printed in the proper column on the master sheet.

Reviewing the operation to this point, it will be seen that upon rotation of the shaft I by the operating handle I8, the feed bar 48 will initially operate to move a card into position on the carrier 32. When so positioned, the carrier will then be moved vertically until the projecting ends III of the sensing fingers align with the perforation in the card and carrier, whereupon the spring I I2 will pivot the projection into such perforation. Thereafter the sensing devices will be moved to cause actuation of the slides 88, which slides in turn, through the rods I20, will cause simultaneous actuation of the slides II6 to move the bars 82. Obviously the indicia on the type bar will be raised an amount corresponding to the movement of the platen following the engagement of an operator and thus properly align same for printing onto the master sheet.

To obtain such printing, there is associated with the type bars a pressure roll I26 which is pivotally mounted on a pair of spaced arms I28. The arms I28 are in turn pivotally mounted on a rod I30 extending between the side plates and 22. The arms I28 extend below the rod I and have their lower ends resting against the operating shaft I0 in which position the pressure roll I26 is out of contact with the type bars. To hold it in such position, there is provided a spring I 32 mounted on the rod I30 and having one end extending across the arm I28 above the rod I30 (see Fig. 3).

To move the pressure roll I26 into contact with the type bars, there is mounted on the operating shaft 9. pair of spaced collars I34 each carrying an inwardly and laterally projecting pin I38. The pins I86 are angularly arranged with relation to cams 88 and 92 so that they will not come into operation until the type bars have been raised to their proper printing position. Thereafter the pins I36 will engage the lower ends of the arms I30 to force the pressure roll I26 against the type bars to print the indicia onto the master sheet.

To advance the master sheet, the pressure roll I23 also has associated therewith a ratchet I38 engaged by a free end of spring finger I mounted on the top plate of the casing I4. Upon the movement of the pressure roll I26 into printing position, the ratchet will move across the finger I40; whereas upon the reverse movement, the finger will engage one of the teeth of the ratchet I38 and rotate the roller. The master sheet may be held in contact with the surface roll in any suitable way, such as by the clamps commonly used on the ordinary typewriter, and as these are well known no showing or description need be made thereof. The master roll may also be provided with a manually operable handle I42 for rotating it to clear the master sheet.

It will thus be seen that by the operation of the single shaft I0 a perforated card is fed into the machine, and thereafter mechanism is actuated to properly set the various type bars, and, following this, the master roll I26 is brought into pressure contact with the type bars to register onto the master sheet the information designated by the perforations on the perforated card. Due to the arrangements of the cams, a proper sequence of operation is assured, and as the feed bar is looked upon raising of the carrier, a'second card cannot be fed until all the parts have returned to feeding position. The operation of shaft 10 may be accomplished manually by providing on the extending end thereof an operating handle I8 (see Fig. 1) or a pulley I52 belt-driven from a small motor I54 (see Fig. '7).

As all the operations are carried out by the operation of the single operating shaft, it is apparent that once a plurality of cards I0 are mounted onto the card holder 35 they will thereafter be automatically fed into the machine and elected therefrom and the information thereon mechanically transferred to a master sheet. .If for any reason it is necessary to readjust the mechanism to align any particular type bar with any particular sensing device, this is readily accomplished by simply taking off one of the side plates and shifting the interconnecting rods I20 to proper position; it being obvious that anyone could readily make such adjustments to meet the required conditions.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying I drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a tabulating machine of the character described, aplurality of vertically arranged tabulating devices, a transversely arranged slide for each tabulating device, a plurality of vertically arranged sensing devices, a transversely arranged slide for each sensing device, the slides for said sensing devices being arranged at right angles to the slides for said tabulating devices and in a plane parallel thereto, and interchangeable rigid connecting means interconnecting each tabulating device slide with a selected sensing device slide.

2. In a tabulating machine of the character described, a pluralit oi! tabulating devices each having a slide, said slides being arranged in generally parallel side by side relation, a plurality of sensing devices each having a slide, said last mentioned slides being arranged in generally parallel side by side relation in a plane parallel to the plane of said first mentioned slides, the slides of one set being arranged transversely to those of the other set whereby the slides of the respective sets cross each other, means for supporting said slides for movement generally at right angles to the planes in which they extend, and interchangeable rigid connecting means for selectively interconnecting the slides of the first set with those of the second set.

'3. In a tabulating machine of the character described, a plurality of tabulating devices each having a slide, said slides being arranged in generally parallel side by said relation, a plurality of sensing devices each having a slide, said last mentioned slides being arranged in generally parallel side by side relation in a plane parallel to the plane of said first mentioned slides, the slides of one set being arranged transversely to those of the other set whereby the slides of the respective sets cross each other, means for guiding said slides for movement generally at right angles to the planes in which they are arranged, each of said slides having on its face opposing the slides oi the other set recesses spaced apart in accordance with the spacing apart of the slides of said other set, and removable interchangeable rods respectively connecting the slides of one set with those of the other and having their ends seated in opposed recesses.

4. In a tabulating machine oi the character described, a plurality of movable sensing devices, a plurality oi. vertically movable slides respectively associated with said sensing devices and adapted to be moved vertically thereby, said slides extending transversely to the direction 01' their movement and being arranged 'in generally side by side parallel relation, a plurality of tabulating devices, a plurality of vertically movable slides respectively associated with said tabulating devices and disposed above said first set of slides, said second set oi! slides being arranged in generally side by side relation and extending crosswise oi the slides of the first set, and interchangeable rigid connecting means for selectively interconnecting the slides of the first set with those 01' the second set.

5. In a tabulating machine of the character described, a plurality oi' tabulating devices, a set of slides respectively associated with said tabulating devices so as to actuate the same, said slides being arranged in generally side by side parallel relation and being independently movable at right angles to the directions in which they extend and are spaced apart, a movable sensing device, a slide actuated by movement of said sensing device, said last mentioned slide being disposed transversely of said first mentioned slides in a plane parallel to the plane 01 the first mentioned slides whereby said slide actuated by the sensing device is arranged crosswise of said first mentioned slides, and a detachably mounted rigid connecting member for selectively connecting said slide actuated by the sensing device with said flrst mentioned slides.

JOSEPH C. MAYORGA. ALBERT A. LA POINTE. 

